What the Air Force Tried in May 2018
The Air Force tried 30 courts-martial in May 2018, and 10 of them ended in a full acquittal (33%), compared with 22% for the Air Force in all of 2018. The median confinement was 6 months, compared with 4 months for the year. General courts-martial were 67% of the month's cases.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Short answer: The Air Force tried 30 courts-martial in May 2018, and 10 of them ended in a full acquittal (33%), compared with 22% for the Air Force in all of 2018. The median confinement was 6 months, compared with 4 months for the year. General courts-martial were 67% of the month's cases.
More Full Acquittals Than for the Year
A full acquittal means the accused was found not guilty of all charges. Full acquittals were 10 of the month's 30 cases. That rate of 33% is higher than the 22% for the Air Force in all of 2018.
Records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea, so the rate here is measured against all cases. That base includes guilty pleas. The acquittal rate for contested cases alone cannot be calculated for this month.
General Courts-Martial Heard Most Cases
Of the 30 cases, 20 were general courts-martial (67%), compared with 50% service-wide. The remaining 10 were special courts-martial.
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot adjudge a dishonorable discharge. Median confinement was 1.1 years at the general level and 2 months at the special level.
Panels Decided Most Cases
The accused usually decides whether guilt is decided by a military judge alone or by a panel of members. Where the forum is listed, members decided 57% of cases: 10 officer panels and 7 enlisted panels. A military judge alone decided 13.
Because guilty pleas are rarely recorded for this period, the data cannot show how many of the panel cases were contested.
The Sentences
Of 20 convictions, 80% included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, compared with 4 months for the Air Force in 2018. A quarter of terms were 2 years or longer.
Sentences longer than one year were part of 5 of 20 convictions (25%), higher than the 20% for the year. Terms of more than 1 year and under 5 years were part of 4 convictions (20%), compared with 12% for the year. Terms of 5 years or more were part of 1 conviction. Another 4 convictions (20%) included no confinement.
These are the sentences adjudged at trial for all charges combined. A plea-agreement cap, clemency, or an appeal may reduce them later.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 4 | 20% | 18% |
| Under 6 months | 8 | 40% | 48% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 3 | 15% | 13% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 4 | 20% | 12% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 5% | 8% |
The General Article Was Charged More Often
Shares are based on the 20 cases with a charge list, and each article counts once per case. Article 134, the general article, appeared in 7 cases (35%), compared with 27% for the year. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 9 (45%), close to the annual 47%.
Article 120b, rape and sexual assault of a child, appeared in 3 cases (15%). Five articles each appeared in 2 cases (10%): Article 128 (assault), Article 80 (attempts), Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation), Article 107 (false official statements), and Article 86 (AWOL). Across 2018, attempts were charged in 1% of cases and AWOL in 3%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 9 | 45% | 47% |
| Art. 134 General article | 7 | 35% | 27% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 3 | 15% | 12% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 2 | 10% | 10% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 2 | 10% | 1% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 2 | 10% | 15% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 2 | 10% | 7% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 2 | 10% | 3% |
Punitive Discharges Matched the Year
Of 19 convicted enlisted members, 11 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (58%), the same rate as the Air Force in 2018. Of the 11, 7 were dishonorable discharges. The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was dismissed.
A member with no punitive discharge may still face administrative separation. These records do not show administrative separations.
Rank and Installation
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 67% of the accused, compared with 63% for the year. NCOs made up 23% and officers 10%.
Shaw AFB, South Carolina, Dyess AFB, Texas, JBSA - Ft Sam Houston, Texas, and Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, each tried 2 cases, and Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, tried 1. Together they accounted for 30% of the month's cases. No installation tried more than 2 cases this month. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count at one base does not mean that base has a particular problem.
One Year Earlier
May 2017 had 38 cases, and May 2018 had 30. Median confinement went from 3 months to 6 months. Convictions with confinement went from 91% to 80%. The general court-martial share went from 47% to 67%. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members were 58% in both months. A single month has few cases, so these changes show direction, not precise size.
| May 2017 | May 2018 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 38 | 30 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | — | — |
| Convictions with confinement | 91% | 80% |
| Median confinement | 3 months | 6 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 58% | 58% |
| General courts-martial | 47% | 67% |
Before the Reform, and Beyond the Record
These trials came before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. That law later set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and introduced written plea agreements. None of those changes applied to the cases here. The records do not include offense dates, evidence, plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, or administrative separations.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Air Force courts-martial with a trial date in May 2018 (30 cases), compared with the whole year.
Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in Military Trial Results, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- Air Force Courts-Martial, April 2018: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- June 2018 at Air Force Courts-Martial: 31 Cases (previous / next)
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2018: Year in Review (the whole year)
- Air Force Courts-Martial, April 2019: The Month in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial, August 2018: The Month in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial, August 2020: The Month in Review
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.